On 9 April 2014, Sabancı Holding had announced that 51 % of Sasa Polyester Sanayi A.Ş. which is the most important plant producing polyester fibre in Turkey was sold in return for $ 62 million. The explanation made by the firm to the Public Disclosure Platform is as such: “The agreement for the share transfer to Indorama Netherlands B.V., a subsidiary of Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited in Netherlands was signed on 9 April 2014. The price for share transfer was determined through negotiation and the whole amount will be collected on the closing date when the share transfer is realised. The transfer of the shares will be carried out after the necessary permissions are taken from the relevant authorities.”
The sale of Sasa which manufactures fibre, filament, polyester-based polymers, by-products and specialty goods to Indorama aroused concern in the textile sector in a period when anti-dumping taxes were put into effect for the import of synthetic-blended yarns manufactured by using fibre from 4 countries and investments increased. Competition Board to which many objections were raised with respect to this sale launched an investigation for the sale of Sasa Polyester within Sabancı Holding.
The Impact of the Sale on the Competition Will Be Investigated
The decision published on the web site of the Competition Board says:
“The application for the takeover of 51 % of the shares of Sasa Polyester Sanayi A.Ş. from Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş. by Indorama Netherlands B.V. was taken under inspection with the final decision of the Turkish Competition Authority dated 02.07.2014 and no. 14-23/465-M.
As it is known, with the Article 7 of the Law no. 4054 on the Protection of Competition, the Competition Authority is authorised to inspect the mergers and/or takeovers that will result in decreasing competition considerably in the markets. The Authority can take the procedures needed for being deepened in terms of the impacts on the market competition under final inspection within the scope of the Article 10 of the Law.
According to the Article 10, it is not possible for a merger/takeover reported to the Authority to be implemented until the final decision. However, taking a procedure under inspection does not mean that it is impermissible.”
We Respect the Decision
İsmail Gülle, the Chairman of Istanbul Textile and Raw Material Exporters’ Association, told about the issue that: “We made the application. We just considered the future of the country and sector. We are glad to hear that an inspection was launched.
We are also pleased to see that the Competition Authority shows the same sensitivity as us.
It is really critical to protect the strategically important plants of Turkey. It is not possible to establish a new Sasa. We will respect the decision to be taken by the Authority.”
It Should Not Be Taken Over By Our Rival
Stating that Sasa provides raw materials for many sectors, Gülle added that: “Sasa is the only factory manufacturing polyester in Turkey. There is no facility having such capacity in Europe. It meets more than half of the consumption of Turkey in this field. It is a factory supplying raw materials for many sectors and it is supported by the state through protection taxes. It supplies raw materials for many sectors including home textile, ready wear and plastic bottles. We are uneasy about the takeover of such a company by the rivals. The Thailand-based company producing and selling the same product is our rival. We wish that the sale was cancelled as soon as possible.”
